McKenna Pope Takes on the Easy Bake Oven

By
Natasha Burton

Dec 04, 2012

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Amazon.com

Amazon.com

Talk about girl power: A 13-year-old named McKenna Pope has posted a petition on Change.org asking Hasbro, the company that makes the Easy Bake Oven, to change the packaging on its notoriously pink and purple toy. The inspiration? Her 4-year-old brother, a wannabe chef who asked Santa for the play oven for Christmas.

In her petition, Pope says she doesn't want her brother to think it's "wrong" or girly to love cooking just because the toy's signature colors and packaging seems to suggest otherwise. (Side note: What a cool big sis!) She says she's asking for support so that kids today can grow up being whatever it is they want to be without feeling restricted by gender. So far, she's received over 25,0000 signatures and is less than 5,000 away from reaching her goal.

We're totally stoked to see a young woman like Pope speak out on this often overlooked issue. Because, she's seriously got a point. The Easy Bake Oven isn't the only domestic toy out there that's clearly marketed to girls: the My Cleaning Trolley is garishly decked out in purple and pink, sending a clear message that housework is the sole duty of the so-called fairer sex. On the flipside, toys for boys, like Little Handyman's Tool Box , which suggest that guys build things, not girls. (We just clean up after them, right? Ugh.)

We hope Pope's petition will help even the playing field when it comes to girls' and boys' toys. Way to go, girl!